Final Design - Rhino

31.05.16

This is the Rhino model for what I intend to be my final design. I added in some dividers down the holes where the LEDs will now sit in place. I also chose to print the base with shortened connecting parts to help make assembly of the final with circuitry easier. Overall I'm really pleased with how the design has progressed and taken shape and look forward to having a functional physical model completed.

Lasercut/3D Printing Combination

31.05.16

I designed some laser cuts to be incorporated into different 3D prints and determine how the materials interact. The lasercuts for the 7 sided polygon were unsuccessful, my measurements were off somewhere which affected tolerances when trying to piece the designs together. The MDF incorporated with the back pyramid looks really effective. The 'Tunes Of I' panel fits perfectly into the top and the mesh designs looked great on the sides. I also experimented with clear acrylic against the black print as well as some 3D printed mesh to resemble a speaker but feel that the MDF has a better contrast and effect. I had initially planned to paint all components of this music player black to emphasize the designs function but am reconsidering after seeing the wood against the black material.

Pyramid with Base

30.05.16

This is my prototype of the complete design put together. Due to some tolerance issues with different prints the design was pieced together most accurately by using components from each one. Although this design is not functional it helped to give me an idea of scale and what the final shape will look like. I'm happy with how the seperate parts come together into a complete design and think that this model (when completed and lit up) will reflect my chosen piece of music and show a clear influence from my moodboards and earlier sketches.

Pyramid Revised - Print

30.05.16

I decided to continue the pyramid design and develop it into a final model. This print was unsuccessful as one of the corners on the base lifted during the print. After some troubleshooting we determined that it was the printer as other students had similar issues when using it. Outside of that issue the print came out really well, I particularly like the black filament for this design and it has the aesthetic quality I was hoping to achieve. The tolerances were less successful than my first print of this design which I think is to do with the print settings in Cura. Some changes that I made were minor details including a button layout on the underside of the top and some holes in the base where the circuitry can go through to light the model. Another issue I faced was that the holes I included for my 3mm LEDs were slightly too big and the lights slipped back through, to remedy this I plan to include a divider so that the LED sits in place and each prong can go down either side of the hole to connect to the rest of the circuit.

Pyramid Revised - Rhino

27.05.16

I redesigned the pyramid shape in Rhino to print again. This time I included circular holes for the LED lights to come through as well as a square hole in the center to hold my switch. I also made the base of the top component with some detailing to resemble that of a control panel, I will look into how I can include some lasercut materials as part of this later in the process.

Base Design

27.05.16

I designed a base that my pyramid model can attach to. This will also be used to house the battery and other circuit components. I created two variations, because my tolerances are so small it would be difficult to slide the base on after the circuit has been soldered and installed, hence the design with shorter sides to clip into. Although the second design is less aesthetic it will be more functional and easier to work with.

3D Printed

Failed Print - could be useful as speaker mesh

Lasercutting

26.05.16

I did some lasercutting around potential designs for the speaker component of my music player. At this stage these designs are experimental to see how fine I could get the mesh patterns and what different shapes and textures would appeal to me or suit my designs. I chose to cut from MDF because when looking back over my moodboards I recalled that a lot of the imagery that appealed to me had a wooden component or texture and a theme from them was the combination of artificial and natural elements.

3D prints

25.05.16

I printed the latest designs that I'd made on Rhino. These models included an input jack to resemble an MP3 player. The prints were reasonably successful aside from being small scaled and resembled my sketches and moodboards but I didn't feel that they reflected my chosen piece of music. They're plain designs and I'd find it hard to incorporate a light feature or different material into the designs. The process helped me to narrow my focus onto which design I want to develop further into a final.